This year has been the roughest year I have faced since my accident 13yrs ago. It all started on Jan 18th when I had to have another correctional surgery on my leg from injuries from my accident 13yrs ago. Three days before the surgery, after living there for 11yrs I was given eviction papers because my landlord was retiring and selling the house. He would not give me any extra time to go through the 8wk recovery and there was nothing available for rent within my price range. So my family and I ended up having to separate and I couch surfed for 3mths. In that time my leg got really infected from the surgery and I found out that it came from an infection in the bone that had laid dormant since my accident and decided to wake up.

Not that the physical issues weren’t enough to go through, but my family was falling apart while having to live separately and for the first time in five years I was without my granddaughter. I lived in choas and dread for 3mths, always on high alert for the next negative thing that was going to be brought my way. If I weren’t being fussed at for something where I was living I was getting phone calls about what was going on in the rest of the family and trying to bring peace between them.

Just when I thought things were about to smooth themselves out because I had gotten an apartment and I was finally able to get around a little better physically I was hit with something else. Because of the type of infection I have amputation is a great possibility down the road. I have had to have a medi port put in so that I can be given IV antibiotics everyday for 6-8wks in hopes of calming the infection down. I will have to be on antibiotics permanently to try to keep it at bay but there is no promises. And so now it is not just the pain that I have to endure but also the effects of antibiotics which make me feel sick and bad all the time.

I have also had someone hack in to my card and take $700 from me. I have had a package stolen from my front door. I was dating a guy that, come to find out, had a girlfriend the whole time and was only using me. I have lost a friend to murder and 2 uncles to sickness.. And there has been a few other things along the way. Talk about a lot happening in 8mths right.

I share these things with you because I am still standing strong. What the enemy tried to use to harm me I was able too grow in my faith and be a witness to the goodness of God. Never once did I think that I couldn’t make it through. Never once did I want to give up. Never once did I question God. It made me turn more towards him and have deeper conversations with him. It made me put my faith into practice and to believe for better days. And I know that what I have endured is nothing compared to what some of you are having to endure but please let my experience be of encouragement to you. Know that God is right there with you. Turn to him and tell him exactly how you are feeling. Lean on his promises and his word for encouragement. And never give up because the sun always eventually peaks through the clouds. God does not give us more than we can handle and he will never leave us nor forsake us. You are never alone and this too shall pass.